SUPER BOWL LII: A little perspective as the haters rejoice

Joe McConnell jmcconnell@wickedlocal.com @joesportsWL

Monday

Feb 5, 2018 at 6:17 PMFeb 6, 2018 at 4:37 PM

How is it possible to lose a Super Bowl game with gaudy statistics like these: 33 points; 505 passing yards; 613 total yards? In fact, the 33 points was the most scored by a losing team in the 52-year history of the big game. Even in defeat, the New England Patriots continue to smash records.

The answer to the above question lies in another statistic that also ended up setting a new NFL postseason record. While the Patriots collected 613 yards in total offense, the Philadelphia Eagles put up 538. It all adds up to 1,151, a number that probably won’t be touched for quite some time, even in a league that favors offense after rewriting the rule book for the past 15 years. For the record, the old record was established way back in 1950 in a game between the Los Angeles Rams and the now-defunct New York Yanks. Those teams combined for 1,133 yards.

There are many takeaways from this historic game that should keep everything in perspective, while the city of Philadelphia cleans up after a night of riotous celebration, and the Patriot haters rejoice after a rare postseason loss. The Patriots now possess a 27-10 playoff record in the last 17 years, a record that includes five Super Bowl championships and eight conference titles.

No. 1 on the list is that Tom Brady didn’t do anything to diminish his title as the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All-Time). He did everything he could to will his team to its second consecutive Super Bowl fourth-quarter comeback victory, the third in four years. Unfortunately, his defense played like a bunch of goats, to put it kindly. He’s certainly not falling off any proverbial cliff, as ESPN’s Max Kellerman continues to claim in his daily rants.

Sunday’s game also featured the controversial catch rule that has stirred up debate throughout the last several years. Philadelphia’s Corey Clement apparently caught a touchdown, but slowing it down it appeared he was bobbling the ball with both feet in-bounds. When he finally corralled it, one foot stepped ever so slightly on the backline of the end zone, which should have negated the score.

On another Eagles touchdown, tight end Zach Ertz in his haste to cross the goal line after catching a pass from Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles, looked like he didn’t "survive the ground," another one of those weird rules that only the NFL could make up. It hearkened back to the Steelers’ loss to the Patriots in December, when Jesse James’ touchdown was ruled incomplete.

Of course, all of America was screeching "payback time" after both those scores, and the NFL replay officials acquiesced to the court of public opinion.

The Ertz touchdown was probably the right call after – upon further review – it looked like he made a football move, according to the bizarre rule book. But let’s still try for consistency here, folks, and not allow a close game be decided by the vagaries of individual interpretations of the rules.

That being said, probably the most bizarre aspect of the heartbreaking loss was the apparent benching of Super Bowl XLIX hero Malcolm Butler. Coach Bill Belichick claims it was a "football decision," but after watching his secondary get torched by a career backup quarterback you’d think there was a time that Butler could have been inserted into the game to try and rescue a beleaguered defense. History was definitely on his side.

There are so many other questions still left unanswered from a game that certainly epitomized an entire season, which was just as chaotic as intriguing, but through it all the Patriots were once again one of the last two teams standing at the altar.

While America’s football fans are savoring New England’s loss, maybe they should just worry about their own teams that come up short perennially. Buffalo fans are still lamenting their four Super Bowl appearances in a row without a win. New York Jets fans are still waxing nostalgic over a team that was last in the Super Bowl 50 years ago, led by a quarterback that has probably been an AARP member for the past 20 years.

Kansas City fans are in the same boat as the Jets, because their team hasn’t played in the big game since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, when they just happened to beat the woebegone Minnesota Vikings, another organization that has been there several times without getting a win. And why bring up the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions, who have yet to play in the Super Bowl among teams that have been around for 20 or more years?

While the Patriots have plenty of questions to answer in the off-season -- chief among them being, how will the two new coordinators work out in order to maintain the team’s same level of success? -- the rest of the league seems to remain flummoxed as to how to make sure neither of the teams in next year’s Super Bowl has a name that starts with "New England." That’s probably why even after the loss to the Eagles, Vegas has already made Brady’s Bunch the favorites to play in Super Bowl LIII.

Joe McConnell is a GateHouse Media New England North Unit sports editor, and he may be reached by email at jmcconnell@wickedlocal.com.